Facebook Accomodates Musicians, Filmmakers

Facebook's new guides for amateur musicians and filmmakers will help the site funnel more users into its creative profiles.

Although Facebook has has offered businesses profile pages since November with the launch of its Facebook Pages feature, last Thursday it kicked the effort to promote such pages for musicians and filmmakers into high gear with the launch of two guides. Music on Facebook and Film on Facebook show budding performers and producers how to launch profile pages that can feature music players, songs for download, videos, and more.

Professional musicians with Facebook profiles include Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews Band, and Coldplay. Besides hosting basic biographical information, photos, and discography, artists can link directly to albums and songs for sale on iTunes with third-party applications, and offer tickets via Music Today. Artist profiles are free, and open to both professionals and amateurs alike.

Prior to Facebook formally introducing support for streaming music through profiles, a number of third-party applications had cropped up that enabled the same functionality. Sony BMG also uses its own application to promote its artists by allowing their music videos to be shared through profiles.